Good day my dear readers, I sincerely hope that you are all having a fantastic day!
Now, you must be thinking, ‘what the hell is a blog dedicated to books and the lot doing with a post about movies?’, well since it’s October, the month of the Sabbath and a period of terror, I decided to kick off the month with some much-needed horror.
So without further ado, let me introduce you to some of my favorite horror movies!
1. Silent Hill
After the continuous sleep walking episodes of Sharon, Rose Da Silva’s adoptive daughter, a decision is made to take Sharon to the place only mentioned in her restless dreams, Silent Hill.
However, the road to Silent Hill is anything but easy to encounter, and when Rose enters into a high-speed chase with a police officer, she inevitably leads both herself and the officer into an accident.
When she wakes up, Sharon has disappeared and Rose is at the entrance to the deserted, dream-like town of Silent Hill.
As she begins the search for her daughter, she begins to see the true terror and mystery that encompass the fog riddled town before her.
Rose is led on a blind search for her beloved child, but ends up finding herself getting more and more entwined into disturbing past of Silent Hill.
It is, in every sense of the word, Hell on Earth.
Silent Hill was originally a survival horror video game franchise, whose games were well known for their intense, psychological stories and downright terrifying game-play.
The franchise had gained popularity with their first release, ‘Silent Hill’ in 1999. However, many fans would agree that the sequel, Silent Hill 2, was by far the most disturbing of all of the games.
The movie for the Silent Hill series was released in 2006, and as far as horror movies go, was generally well received.
I watched the movie a few years ago, and I have to say that it remains one of favorites to this day.
In my opinion, it combined the elements of horror very nicely and I honestly fell in love with the concept of Silent Hill after watching it.
Fair warning though, the movie is very gory and disturbing as far as I remember and it is not recommended for the faint of heart.
2. The Ring
At first, it sounded like just another urban legend – a videotape filled with nightmarish images that leads to a phone call foretelling the viewer’s death in exactly seven days.
Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller is skeptical of the story until four teenagers all die mysteriously exactly one week after watching just such a tape.
Allowing her investigative curiosity to get the best of her, Rachel tracks down the video and watches it herself.
Now she has just seven days to unravel the mystery behind the tape, and save her son’s life in the process.
The Ring is an american remake of the 1998 Japanese horror movie, ‘Ringu’, which in turn was based on the ‘Ring’, the first of a book series written by Koji Suzuki and published in the 90’s.
I watched this one a few months ago and I have to that it is by far one of my favorites.
‘The Ring’ doesn’t use blood and gore to terrify its viewers, instead it focuses on the elements of psychological horror and while it might not necessarily scare you shitless, it will disturb you and creep you out to no end, and after watching it you’ll still be thinking about it days later.
There might also be that silly bit of paranoia that you’ll die after seven days of seeing the movie, I distinctly remember that very thought in the back of my mind that stayed in my head for a week after I saw the film.
‘The Ring’ delivers a kind of horror that stays with you, no matter how many times you try to be beat it down. Because, you see the thing about good horror, is that it never really dies.
3. Insidious, Chapters 1 and 2
Josh Lambert and his wife Renai move with their three children, Dalton, Foster and Cali, to a new home, in hopes of a fresh start.
However, one day when Dalton is exploring the attic, he falls from a ladder and hits the head on the floor.
The next morning, Dalton does not wake up and he soon falls into a coma, but the doctors are not able to come up with a concrete diagnosis.
Three months later, strange events begin to occur in the Lambert household and Renai soon starts seeing apparitions.
She is sure that the house is haunted and convinces Josh to move again. But things are no different, if not worse in the new house and this time Josh does not believe his wife when she tells him of the spirits she has seen roaming the halls of their new home.
That is until his mother, Lorraine tells Josh that she had a vision of a fiend in Dalton’s room.
Frightened and desperate, the Lambert’s take Lorraine’s advice and invite the medium and Lorraine’s old friend Elise Rainier, who brings her team of ghost hunters to investigate the supernatural phenomena in their home.
Elise explains that Dalton has gained the ability of astral projection and his spiritual body is lost in a place called the Further that is not meant for the living and the entities there are gathering around him, trying to get inside his empty physical body.
Among these entities there is a demon that needs Dalton’s body to complete its malicious agenda.
And to complicate matters even more, Lorraine discloses that Josh had also once been a traveller and may very well be the only person who can bring Dalton home.
I like the Insidious series for its take on the this ‘Other world’ of sorts that was deigned for the dead.
It’s a very creepy place to be, and definitely not somewhere you’d want to end up. This movies essentially go hand in hand and Chapter 2 pretty much continues the story from where Chapter 1 left of.
Insidious Chapter 3 is an older story that takes place before the events of Insidious but I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I did it’s predecessors.
The movie in general is very creepy, the music ties into the film really well and it’s chock full of jump scares that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.
It’s also got a good story line, which is a little surprising for a horror movie and it’s overall a must see movie for the season of Halloween.
4. Hush
Arthur Kipps, a lawyer and recently widowed and grieving the loss of his wife, is sent to a remote village to put a deceased eccentric’s affairs in order.
But, soon after his arrival, it becomes clear that the villagers are hiding a terrible secret.
Kipps discovers that his late client’s house is haunted by the spirit of a woman who is trying to find someone or something she lost, and that no one — not even the children — are safe from her terrible wrath.
6. The Conjuring
In 1970, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren are summoned to the home of Carolyn and Roger Perron.
The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known.
Though the manifestations are relatively benign at first, the situation soon escalates with a horrifying intensity, especially after the Warrens discover the house’s macabre history.
This was a very creepy movie as far as I remember and it does a really good job of making your hair stand on end.
That being said be sure to add this to your Halloween horror movie list because like all the others, it’s a real creep show.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post and please do let me know what you thought, and as always, happy reading!
